A wheel suspension for a motor vehicle generally includes one or more links, which at one end are pivotably connected to the underbody and on another end carry a wheel hub. The wheel suspension couples the wheel to the underbody so that said wheel with respect to the underbody is substantially movable only in one single degree of freedom, so that a wheel can be cushioned with a spring and dampened with a shock absorber without being able to avoid the damping forces transversely to their active direction.
The connection to the underbody is usually established in that the underbody-side end of the link is formed as a sleeve or a ring through the aperture of which a pin fixed on the underbody and held between two walls projecting downwards from the underbody, extends, which determines the course of an axle about which the link is pivotable. When in the aperture in the usual manner an elastic element surrounding the pin is provided, space for the ring and adequate free space has to be present between the axle and the underbody in order to make possible an evasive movement of the link when travelling over an irregularity, during which evasive movement the link does not hit the underbody, i.e. the distance between a pivot axis of the link and the underbody must not be too small.
On the other hand, it is desirable to minimize the height of the vehicle body in particular in the rear region in order to minimize the drag coefficient and thus the fuel consumption without having to restrict the useful height of the passenger cabin for this purpose.